After four consecutive quarters of decline, in the first quarter of 2024, global tablet shipments returned to growth, up slightly by 1% year-on-year to 33.7 million units.
According to Canalys, Apple is in first place with 12 million units shipped, accounting for 36% of the global market share. Samsung is in second place, with 6.8 million units shipped. Benefiting from demand in China's home market and the Asia-Pacific region, Huawei ranked third for two consecutive quarters, with shipments of 2.7 million units, up 70% year-on-year. Lenovo and Amazon ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, with both ships more than 2 million units.
"The tablet industry has made a good start in 2024 and will be further relieved in the second half of this year." According to Himani Mukka, research manager at Canalys, manufacturers remain confident despite the long-term cautious consumer spending on tablets. New players continue to invest in the space, and leading players continue to innovate to spark consumer interest and drive new use cases.
According to the latest supply chain news, Apple is about to launch 11.1-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models with the first-ever OLED display. According to Ross Young, president of DSCC (a subsidiary of Counterpoint Research), the adoption of OLED displays is expected to significantly drive the growth of the OLED tablet market in 2024, with Apple's panels leading the market due to their quality and functionality.
iPad shipments, still maintaining the lead
Judging from the shipment data, although Apple's iPad products continue the trend of iPhone decline, the market share of iPad still maintains an absolute lead.
According to Canalys, iPad shipments in the first quarter of 2024 decreased by 19.42 million units, or 13.9% year-on-year, compared to the same period last year. Among the world's top five tablet manufacturers, only Apple and Amazon have experienced a year-on-year decline in shipments.
According to Apple's fiscal second-quarter earnings report released last week, its iPad business revenue continued to decline last quarter, falling to $5.56 billion, below the average analyst estimate of $5.91 billion. This is mainly due to the fact that for the first time in the product's history, Apple has not upgraded the hardware of the iPad for an entire year.
The decline in shipments has also led to a reduction in Apple's market share in tablets. In the first quarter of 2024, Apple's global tablet market share was 35.6%, compared to 41.8% in the same period last year, a year-on-year decrease of 6.2 percentage points. Even so, the shipment of about 12 million iPads is still nearly double that of Samsung, the second-ranked manufacturer. During the same period, Samsung's global tablet market share was 20.2%.
It should be noted that among the top five tablet manufacturers in the world, Huawei's shipment growth is the fastest.
In the first quarter of 2024, Huawei's tablet shipments increased by 70.2% year-on-year, and its global market share increased by 68.8% year-on-year to 8.1%, ranking third. The sharp increase in Huawei's sales is mainly due to the high sales in the domestic market.
According to the quarterly tracking report on China's tablet in the fourth quarter of 2023 released by the International Data Corporation (IDC), the shipment volume of China's tablet market in the fourth quarter of 2023 was about 8.17 million units, a year-on-year decrease of about 5.7%, of which the consumer market decreased by 7.3% year-on-year, and the commercial market increased by 13.8% year-on-year.
At the same time, in the fourth quarter of 2023, Huawei surpassed Apple to become the No. 1 tablet market in China's tablet market in terms of shipments, which is the first time since 2010 that China's quarterly tablet shipments have seen a change of TOP1 brands.
Tablets, the more they sell, the more expensive they become
In addition to the change in sales, the entire tablet market is converging a consensus - replacing laptops with larger, higher-configuration tablet products.
Taking iPad as an example, since its launch in 2010, it has been subdivided into four product lines, including iPad, iPad mini, iPad Air, and iPad Pro. Among them, the maximum size of the iPad Pro has reached 12.9 inches, which is almost the same as some MacBook Air models. At the same time, Apple has also been trying to improve the productivity attributes of the iPad Pro, through a series of accessories such as the matching Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil, making its user experience close to that of a laptop.
On the newly released iPad Pro models, Apple also brought an OLED display to a tablet for the first time. Compared with the LCD material, the OLED screen can allow the iPad Pro to achieve more detailed display and higher brightness. At the same time, with the OLED screen, the iPad Pro can be made lighter and thinner.
Of course, higher configurations also mean more expensive product prices. For example, the starting price of the 2022 iPad Pro has reached 6799 yuan, which is more expensive than some laptops.
According to MacRumors' leaked information, the price of the upcoming OLED version of the iPad Pro will rise sharply. The OLED version of the iPad Pro is available in 11-inch and 13-inch versions, with the 11-inch version starting at $1,500 and the 13-inch version expected to start at $1,800-$2,000. Converted to RMB at the current exchange rate, the iPad Pro starts at about 10,830 yuan for the 11-inch version and 12,996-14,440 yuan for the 13-inch version.
If this price is true, it means that the latest iPad Pro products will be priced higher than the current MacBook Pro price.
In fact, in addition to the increasing cost of iPad products, tablets from domestic manufacturers are also moving towards replacing laptops.
The Huawei MatePad Pro has a maximum size of 13.2 inches. Similarly, the HUAWEI MatePad Pro is equipped with a magnetic keyboard with Starlight connection technology for office scenarios, and the free multi-window function allows users to get a PC-like window interaction experience. The PC-level WPS Office on Huawei tablets has also been further upgraded, making the tablets have a work efficiency close to that of a PC.
Xiaomi has gone one step further in terms of large size, with the Mi Pad 6 Max coming with a large 14-inch screen for the first time. The intent of such a configuration is also obvious, which is to rush to replace the laptop.
It should be noted that although tablets equipped with higher configurations are becoming more and more expensive, their market appeal is not yet mature. According to IDC's data, in the fourth quarter of 2023, compared with the same period last year, the share of products below RMB 2,000 increased significantly, and the market share of high-priced products above RMB 4,000 decreased rapidly.
Gan Miao, senior research manager of IDC China, said that 2024 will be a year when mainstream brands pay more attention to user experience and brand sustainability. How tablet brands can better help companies achieve sustainable development will become an important topic for the industry. At the same time, high-quality products will not only meet the higher needs of users, but also bring more benign net profit contributions to enterprises. (This article was first published in the Titanium Media APP, by |.) Rao Xiangyu Ed. | Zhong Yi)